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Tech: Apple kills the netbook
Member Since: 10/9/2009
Posts: 6,108
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Quote:
Netbook Industry Shutting Down After Being Squeezed by iPad and MacBook Air
As noted by The Guardian earlier this week, the netbook industry will be winding down in the first quarter of 2013, as major players Asus and Acer will be shutting down production of the tiny notebooks.
Actually, the number sold in 2013 will be very much closer to zero than to 139m. The Taiwanese tech site Digitimes points out that Asus, which kicked off the modern netbook category with its Eee PC in 2007, has announced that it won't make its Eee PC product after today, and that Acer doesn't plan to make any more; which means that "the netbook market will officially end after the two vendors finish digesting their remaining inventories."
Asustek and Acer were the only two companies still making netbooks, with everyone else who had made them (including Samsung, HP and Dell) having shifted to tablets.
The report points to four factors that likely contributed to the demise of the netbook: the overall PC market including the rise of more powerful ultrabooks, the global economy, poor profit margins on netbooks, and the iPad leading a charge of tablets to the market.
Going a bit further, Slate argues that Apple is the primary culprit in the demise of the netbook, with the MacBook Air and iPad squeezing netbooks from both sides and leading to a transformation in personal computing.
Quote:
Originally posted by Slate
Apple alone stood against the tide of netbooks. Apple’s brilliant insight was that despite netbooks’ popularity, nobody really wanted a netbook per se. Instead, Apple realized that people who were buying netbooks were looking for one of two things—they wanted full-fledged laptops that were very portable, or they wanted cheap machines that allowed them to easily surf the Web, use email and do other light computing tasks. Rather than building a single netbook that fit both these audiences poorly, Apple built two machines that were, each in its own way, much better than any netbook ever sold.
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Slate's Farhad Manjoo goes on to note that Apple simply couldn't compete in the netbook market given the pricing model, and it had no interest in building an inferior product in an attempt to do so. Steve Jobs himself said at the iPad's introduction in 2010 that netbooks were simply a non-starter for Apple.
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Originally posted by Steve Jobs
If there's going to be a third category of device it is going to have to be better at doing these types of tasks than a laptop or a smartphone; otherwise it has no reason for being. Now, some people have thought 'that's a netbook!' The problem is that netbooks aren't better at anything. They're slow, they have low-quality displays, and they run clunky old PC software. So they're not better than a laptop at anything, they're just cheaper. They are just cheap laptops. And we don't think that they're a third category of device.
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With the MacBook Air and iPad emerging as Apple's alternatives the entire computer industry was spurred to follow its lead, ultimately squeezing netbooks out of existence.
Source: http://www.macrumors.com/2013/01/03/...d-macbook-air/
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![pikachu](images/smilies/images/smilies/pikachu.gif)
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Member Since: 4/25/2011
Posts: 41,661
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The legendary Steve Jobs too bad the other CEO is doing so many wrong turns in his era.
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Member Since: 10/9/2009
Posts: 6,108
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It's pretty interesting that Apple was the powerhouse against the netbook craze a few years ago and now netbooks are officially extinct. Steve Jobs was right yet again... ![cries](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRLSmilies/45ab1e3e.gif)
![pikachu](images/smilies/images/smilies/pikachu.gif)
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Member Since: 2/6/2010
Posts: 27,892
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Netbooks suck. Like, my brother had one and it was pointless. Ultrabooks are a much better alternative, but the Air still reigns supreme.
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Member Since: 4/9/2012
Posts: 13,357
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Good, the 1st step in the Apple takeover.
![](http://i.minus.com/iCpsdzwhCk2y1.gif)
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Member Since: 10/9/2009
Posts: 6,108
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Quote:
Originally posted by GaGaFan
Netbooks suck. Like, my brother had one and it was pointless. Ultrabooks are a much better alternative, but the Air still reigns supreme.
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I got into the netbook fad a few years ago. It's currently sitting in my closet collecting dust now.
![pikachu](images/smilies/images/smilies/pikachu.gif)
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Member Since: 5/3/2012
Posts: 42,099
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Isn't the MacBook Air a netbook though? ![rip](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRLSmilies/rip_zpsec10ede9.gif)
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Member Since: 4/29/2012
Posts: 29,059
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Netbook?
![](http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m83x6gvG3M1ranhp2o2_250.gif)
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Member Since: 4/25/2011
Posts: 41,661
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Quote:
Originally posted by liberalmusiclover
Isn't the MacBook Air a netbook though? ![rip](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRLSmilies/rip_zpsec10ede9.gif)
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No ![rip](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRLSmilies/rip_zpsec10ede9.gif)
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Member Since: 6/15/2011
Posts: 5,842
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Quote:
Originally posted by liberalmusiclover
Isn't the MacBook Air a netbook though? ![rip](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRLSmilies/rip_zpsec10ede9.gif)
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No, more like the first of what we now call an ultrabook.
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Member Since: 1/1/2013
Posts: 3,442
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Quote:
Originally posted by a1016neo
I got into the netbook fad a few years ago. It's currently sitting in my closet collecting dust now.
![pikachu](images/smilies/images/smilies/pikachu.gif)
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Free Netbook you say? ![cheese](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/925b9b64.gif)
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Banned
Member Since: 6/25/2011
Posts: 37,192
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I'd say tablets and ultrabooks in general.
It was obvious netbooks would only last until they could make better small devices.
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Member Since: 10/9/2009
Posts: 6,108
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Quote:
Originally posted by liberalmusiclover
Isn't the MacBook Air a netbook though? ![rip](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRLSmilies/rip_zpsec10ede9.gif)
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Some people were trying that with the 11in Air, but no. The Air has a high res screen, a large trackpad, a full size backlight keyboard, Core i5 processor, and premium design. A netbook had none of this.
![pikachu](images/smilies/images/smilies/pikachu.gif)
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Member Since: 6/17/2011
Posts: 16,910
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I will never understand how people could type on those tiny keyboards. ![violin](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/3e5dbfe7.gif)
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Member Since: 6/14/2012
Posts: 2,710
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![rip](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRLSmilies/rip_zpsec10ede9.gif) poor company's
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Member Since: 3/24/2012
Posts: 15,013
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netbooks are ****ing garbage, my aunt went through 3 in a year cuz all of them **** out on her and she doesnt download anything, just browses internet and emails
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Member Since: 11/13/2009
Posts: 25,902
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What make an ultrabook different than a netbook?
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Member Since: 4/25/2011
Posts: 41,661
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Quote:
Originally posted by RCL
![rip](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRLSmilies/rip_zpsec10ede9.gif) poor company's
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Why? ![Ace Reject](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/c74c86fd.gif) They just stopped producing Netbooks. It's not that they aren't profiting with their Full Laptops.
Tablets killed the net book. Mac Book Air? I really don't think so.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 27,547
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I have to use a netbook because I can't afford a half decent laptop, it's the worst thing ever ![rip](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRLSmilies/rip_zpsec10ede9.gif)
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Member Since: 10/9/2009
Posts: 6,108
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Quote:
Originally posted by Beatfreak
What make an ultrabook different than a netbook?
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Netbooks had 9-11 in screens. They were cheap, had low quality displays, slow processors, slow HDs, etc. Ultrabooks have 11-13in screens. They are thin and made from quality materials. They have fast Core i5 or i7 processors and high capacity SSDs.
7-10in tablets pretty much killed the netbook, and ultrabooks are becoming the mainstream laptop choice.
![pikachu](images/smilies/images/smilies/pikachu.gif)
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